Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo hopes, wonders, pours

By JEFF EDELSTEIN, Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo sat for a third day of trial Thursday. His main jo

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Hoping not taking the stand in his own defense was a good idea. Hoping the jury would see things his way. Hoping to stay out of prison.

That’s a lot of hopes.In day one (and only) of the defense case Thursday, Ballarotto called three witnesses, and the whole thing took less than two hours. The witnesses were former FBI Special Agent William Monks (who handled Marliese Ljuba before his retirement); Bill Guhl, a longtime municipal business and finance expert (who worked with Bencivengo for six months in 2008); and Deanna Nelson, a friend.

The main points Ballarotto tried to make with each witness were clear: With Monks, to try and show Ljuba only committed to calling the money given to Bencivengo a bribe after she agreed to work with the feds; with Guhl, to try and show Bencivengo had no legal authority over the Hamilton Board of Education, so accepting a “bribe” from Ljuba to influence them would be pointless; and with Nelson, to show Ljuba was a dear friend of the mayor and wouldn’t be offering bribes, just a friend helping a friend.

Did the jury buy it?I don’t know. While I love imagining myself as a body language expert/armchair psycholgist (and handsome and modest, to boot), I was having a tough time discerning the jurors’ take on all this.

And I think the jury might be having an equally tough time discerning their own take on the case. Was the money given to Bencivengo a bribe? A loan? Something else? Both? I don’t think anyone really knows, not the jury, not Bencivengo, not Ljuba.

The web here — as evidenced by the parade of names that have popped out at trial — is a tangled weave. Ljuba had been working as the insurance broker for the Hamilton School District since 1996. Her dealings with Bencivengo — whatever they were — were not her first time at the dance.

In my armchair psychologist role, I’d bet Bencivengo believes that whatever he did, legal or illegal, wasn’t done with malicious intent. Does intent matter here? Should it? Will the jury take any of this into consideration?

Monday we may just find out. I predict a speedy deliberation, one way or another.

A few other notes …Ballarotto was wearing North American crocodile boots. I know because I asked. They were hard to miss ...

Doesn’t matter what trial I’ve ever been to, I always feel lousy for the mother of the defendant. Bencivengo’s mother was there, silently watching the proceedings, seated next to her daughter. As a parent myself, I’d do anything to keep my kid safe. I don’t care if we’re talking about a toddler or a 58-year-old mayor, no one wants to see their kid in trouble …

Our reporter Sherrina V. Navani nailed it in her piece yesterday about the “side battle” between Ballarotto and Judge Anne Thompson. Sitcoms have been built on less. These two have quite the repartee going …

Lastly — and this is based on what’s come out at the trial and in conversations with others — I have to think this trial will not mark the end of the saga. We may be reading about the fallout here for a long time.